Eugenia McLaurin “Mac” Bryant

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Sept. 30, 1940 – March 26, 2012

NATCHEZ — Services for Eugenia McLaurin “Mac” Bryant, 71, of Natchez, who died Monday, March 26, 2012, will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Trinity Episcopal Church with the Rev. Walton Womack Jones and the Rev. Walter Burley Stattman Salmon officiating.

Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. today at Villa di Caprone, 108 Dana Road in Natchez.

A private family burial will be at a later date under the direction of Laird Funeral Home.

Mrs. Bryant was born Sept. 30, 1940, in Washington County, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Miller McLaurin. A proud native of the Mississippi Delta, upon graduation from Millsaps College she moved to Natchez in 1961, as an educator in the Natchez public schools and later from 1971, until the early 1990s, for Trinity Episcopal School.

Mac received three master’s degrees in education and computer science from the University of Southern Mississippi. She was known as a stern educator who rarely met a former student who didn’t say, “you helped me learn how to learn.” A number of students will also remember her as their basketball and track and field coach at Trinity and also as the loudest fan at a sporting event, especially a New Orleans Saints game. Later in life, she developed a passion for computer science, establishing Mac Bryant Computer Consulting in the early 1980s.

Mac’s civic and social involvements include the original steering committee for the restoration of Jefferson Military College in the early 1970s, and serving as president of the Friends of Jefferson College in 1974. She was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church and the Pilgrimage Garden Club. She received a number of accolades in education as well as named Teacher of the Year in 1973. Mac, along with close friend, Nancy Biglane, opened the River Boat Gift Shop at Natchez Under-the-Hill in 1977.

Mac married her husband, Ronald Wayne Bryant, Aug. 17, 1963, in Hollandale. They were married for 48 years.

Mac was preceded in death by her parents and two siblings, John McLaurin Jr. and Mike Ward McLaurin.

Survivors include her husband; one daughter, Laurin Bryant Evans and husband, Jack, of St. Petersburg, Fla.; one son, R. Wayne Bryant Jr. and partner, Robert Canon, of Natchez; twin grandchildren, Erin and Jake Evans of St. Petersburg; one sister, Margaret McDaniel and husband, George, of Houston, Texas; one brother, Joe McLaurin of Hollandale; a number of nieces and nephews; and special friend, Greg Iles.

Pallbearers will be George McDaniel, Mike McDaniel, John Grady Burns, Jason Dauphin, Michael Lord, John Parks, Bill Heburn and John Ward Junkin.

Honorary pallbearers will be Judge Charlie Vess, James Biglane, Jim Milton, Homer Rushing, Dennis Moritz, Adrian Stallone, Lee Jones, Butch Brown, Edward Gaudet and Tony Burke.

Special honored friends will be Buck Aitken and Drew Kisner.

Immediately following the service, a celebration of her life will be at the home of her son at Villa di Caprone. Friends are encouraged to stay to share their memories of Mac and the joys we remember having had her as a part of our lives.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in her honor may be sent to The Mac Bryant Academic-Athlete Scholarship Fund c/o Trinity Episcopal School.

Online condolences may be sent to www.lairdfh.com.